Reusable plastic packaging has in recent years been used to store and transport all manner of goods and materials via air, highway, and rail. Such goods and materials run the gamut, including general merchandise, health and beauty aids, automotive parts, beverage, bakery, pharmaceuticals, and food products.
Reusable packaging typically lasts for multiple trips making it more cost effective than wood fiber corrugated or other disposable packaging, which is typically discarded after a single use. Plastic packaging is both reusable and recyclable, and therefore, environmentally friendly.
Until the present invention, one drawback to plastic packaging is that it cannot be used with existing automated corrugated paper packaging equipment. An example of such equipment is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,886,503 to Chase, et al. Such equipment is designed for new corrugated paper boxes. New paper corrugated boxes are almost perfectly straight and flat. Existing reusable plastic packaging such as plastic corrugated boxes, however, have top and bottom flaps that do not return to a sufficiently flat position after they have been used and broken down. Thus, existing plastic corrugated boxes will not work with automated corrugated paper packaging equipment to allow them to be reused.
The plastic corrugated container of the present invention provides a reusable plastic container that can be used interchangeably with existing automated paper corrugated packaging equipment. Fold lines for the top and bottom flaps include a combination of welded and scored portions that return the flaps to a substantially planar configuration with the container end and side panels after each use.